Your ride today.... (part 1)

[gbb]

An unplanned 31 kiles....I only set out for a 20, but missed a turn somewhere near Holme..for Yaxley, and ended up at Ramsey St Marys...ooer, that now means part of my ride back means a circa 7 mile ride with a hefty headwind.
Took a mostly sidewind route, but its really blowy out there, albeit with lovely blue skies, a patchwork of fluffy white cclouds, lovely verdent verges and hedges, golden fields...its a festival of colour out there.
Add to that, long sweeping bends at 36 mph...thats what cycling is all about...thoroughly enjoyed it out there today.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

My ride today started in cafe on Cathedral Square, Peterborough and after a ride round Corby and going down the Rockingham Hill for a change we stopped again at Beans Cafe in Oundle . Bean's is very popular with cyclists and I probably pass it at least twice a week but this was the first time I'd been in
What was good to hear the arguably strongest rider in the club was dropping back to help one our younger members. He was also alert when I was slow off the mark after a natural break pulling me back into pack against a strong headwind

My OH could do with that lesson... he lets me struggle against it on the grounds sooner or later I will get stronger!

 

[arranandy]

Round Strathaven 50 for me and about 400 other today. Quite testing conditions at times with a strong westerly wind and a couple of blusterly showers. Tea and home baking at the end were excellent. Adding up the ride up to Strathaven and back I have done 76 miles today. I have sad news though - there was a casualty. My sunglasses came off my helmet and hit the road at about 25mph!!

 

[ianrauk]

A nice Kent hilly 100 with @Trickedem of this parish. Mainly Tim's route. You can always tell it's a Tim route by the number of 20% hills included..

My 20th Century+ ride of 2013

And the man himself conquering Liverton Hill.

 

[Globalti]

58 miles and 4200 feet of climb from Blackburn out to Jubilee Tower on the Lancaster-Clitheroe road then back through the Trough, a coffee and a bacon and egg sandwich at Puddleducks, then onwards for a pint of Dizzy Blonde in Ribchester. The perfect day out.

Pity the poor bloke who had crashed coming down the Trough and skinned his arse and his elbow.... ouch!

 

[derrick]

74 mile club ride, lots of climbing plenty of pushing hard, ended up in the pub, i think i found one of the best clubs around, great bunch of guys and girls, a real good fun ride, am a bit knackered now.

 

[ianrauk]

74 mile club ride, lots of climbing plenty of pushing hard, ended up in the pub, i think i found one of the best clubs around, great bunch of guys and girls, a real good fun ride, am a bit knackered now.

And the Club is?

 

[derrick]

And the Club is?

http://www.southgatecc.org.uk/
The only downside is there web site, still under construction.

 

[Steve Malkin]

I finally plucked up the courage to try out a run with my local club Weaver Valley Cycling Club.
I'd only ever ridden on my own before so was a bit nervous, but they were very friendly and supportive and I enjoyed the ride tremendously, I'll definitely be back for another go next week.

The was a really good turnout at the meeting up point (British legion in Hartford) and we split up into 3 groups, the "wrinklies", the main club group who were doing a longer hillier/faster route, and a slower group doing a less challenging route more suitable for beginners. The slower one is the correct group for me at my present level of fitness

The ride was about 45 miles through the Cheshire lanes with a cafe stop at the ice cream farm in Tattenhall, and the pace suited me just fine, fast enough to get me puffing and blowing up the hills, but I never felt in danger of being dropped.

What did surprise me was just how much easier it was riding in a group rather than solo. I'd read about the benefits before, but had always thought to myself "yeah it can't make that much much difference" but it really does, sitting in the middle of the bunch sheltered from the wind is like getting an extra 5 mph for free!

Ride details here: http://app.strava.com/activities/75580035

 

[Jen5656]

Very windy coast ride to Largs, nearly got blown into the path of a bus on Largs sea front.
33 miles, certainly blew the cobwebs away though.

 

[Snapper88]

my strava from todays ride

http://www.strava.com/activities/75612636

had a close pass in Roade where the car should have given way to oncoming traffic but decided he would push through but all in all a good ride. A strong headwind slowed me down in the last 10miles

 

[mcb2080]

Round Strathaven 50 for me and about 400 other today. Quite testing conditions at times with a strong westerly wind and a couple of blusterly showers. Tea and home baking at the end were excellent. Adding up the ride up to Strathaven and back I have done 76 miles today. I have sad news though - there was a casualty. My sunglasses came off my helmet and hit the road at about 25mph!!

Same for me, great wee day out.

Some tough conditions today.

Home baking was excellent as well :-)

Sorry to hear about the casualty!!!

 

[gavgav]

A quick compilation of rides from my Holiday to the Lake District with @Rickshaw Phil and his family, to celebrate his "special" birthday .I will leave Phil to provide the full description of the rides, with pictures, as he is much better at it than me!!

Sunday 4th August = A short 11.4 mile ride, starting out at Hawkshead and heading down past Esthwaite and across to the Sawrey's (Near and Far!) and down to the shores of Windermere, across the lovely new path to Wray Castle and back around to Hawkshead. A fairly gentle introduction to the hills of Cumbria (well as gentle as they get anyway!), which was needed due a complete lack of cycling on my part over the summer. Avg speed 8.8 mph.

Tuesday 6th August = An 18.1 mile, starting out at Hawkshead and heading into Grizedale Forest, via Moor Top. The 700 odd feet of climbing into Grizedale during the 1st few miles was an absolute killer, but the downhill section the other side was very enjoyable. A snack lunch was had at the Visitor Centre and we then proceeded down to Satterthwaite and called in for a welcome pint at The Eagles Head. We then decided that we had had enough of forest tracks and so took the B5285 road back to Hawkshead, where we came across this 2 headed cow.......... It provided much hilarity for a good few minutes!

Avg speed 7.8 mph

Thursday 8th August - An 18.4 mile ride, starting out at Hawkshead and then to Outgate and up towards the Drunken Duck (forgoing a stop......for now!) We then continued over to Elterwater and stopped at The Britannia Inn for a swift half (or 2 thirds in my case, as a flippin Wasp decided to dive into my 1st half after I had only had a few gulps) . We then rode up the seriously steep Red Bank climb and over to Loughrigg Terrace. We stopped for lunch halfway along the terrace with some simply stunning views over Grasmere and Rydal Water and then dropped down the rocky path and into Ambleside. We rode through Ambleside and then took the road out towards Clappersgate and then another climb back up to The Drunken Duck, where we did stop this time for a lovely pint of beer from the Barngates Brewery. A descent back into Hawkshead finished the ride. Avg speed 7.5 mph.

Friday 16th August - A 21.9 mile ride, starting at Hawkshead and heading down to Wray Castle, where we caught the Bike Boat over Windermere Lake to Brockhole. We then took the Main Road over to Bowness (not enjoyable due to the sheer weight of traffic and a number of close passes) but did hit 32.9 mph on Rayrigg Road when dropping into Bowness, which was fun. We stopped for lunch on Glebe Road, overlooking the lake and a Japanese Tourist asked for her photo to be taken with us and the bikes ! We then caught the main Windermere ferry back over the lake and took the shoreline path again over to Wray Castle. I could feel the strength coming back into my legs, compared to the 1st ride and so we managed to do this much quicker and so decided we wanted to continue and so headed along a very new cycle path (not easy to cycle on in it's current unpacked state) and up to The Drunken Duck for another pint and some chips . The beer gave us new found belief and so we decided to continue up Hawskead Hill and then climbed up to Tarn Hows. I had seriously forgotten how steep these climbs were and so was very glad when we descended into Tarn Hows to the amazing views it gives. A nice descent back to Hawkshead finished the route off.

Avg speed around about 9 mph, distorted a bit by ferry trips!

Overall a simply fabulous 2 weeks in the Lakes, including a climb up the Old Man of Coniston, 2634 feet high, which meant a few days of recovery needed and so a bit less cycling in the 2nd week! The weather was fairly nice in the 1st week, but there was typical Lakes rain for much of the 2nd week, relenting enough for a bit of outdoor activity though.

 

[Seamab]

My ride today was the CC Ecosse Redstone Rigg extravaganza. (See thread in Informal rides). My 1st CC Ecosse outing of the year and some lovely cycling roads just East of Edinburgh. 52miles of easy paced cycling in great company taking in the 17% climb of the title.

 

[TheDoctor]

A sunny and undulating 25 miles for me, ending up at the tea shop in Datchworth for a fry-up. Been a bit slack lately, so 25 miles was plenty...